My last UPdate was about perfection. Today I want to discuss what is often the not so distant cousin of perfection: worry. When we take a break from striving for some unrealistic standard of perfection, our hiatus is often spent worrying about something or someone we cannot control. Worry is a complete waste of energy. Think about it, what good does worrying do other than tie your stomach into knots and rob you of the present moment?

Last week I found myself worrying about how I was going to handle an unexpected situation. Fortunately I had the intuition to attend the Sunday service at Agape and the topic Reverend Beckwith spoke on seemed tailored just for me: “From Fretting to Letting.” His message was the more time we spend fretting around worrying about things, the less we are letting in peace, abundance, joy and all the other good stuff that we worry we are going to lose or never get. Worry warts focus on little things that don’t really matter and big things we can’t control anyway! Imagine the sacred time and energy you could reclaim if you focused on all the wonderful things in your life instead.

So how do you silence the worry wart? First, stay present. Worry and anxiety usually come from future based thinking. Second, get to know worry’s kryptonite: faith. When we have faith that all is well, even if sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, we allow for the natural flow of Divine timing. And for you more logical folks, do an opportunity cost analysis by weighing all the things that worry is costing you against the payoffs. My guess is you’ll quickly see that worry is not an asset. So right now tell your worry wart to go hang out with the perfectionist and give you some peace and quiet! .

Fondly,
Christine

“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can.But train yourself not to worry: Worry never fixes anything.”
– Ernest Hemingway
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
– Buddha